By Joey Roulette

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Amazon's first pair of prototype satellites for its planned Kuiper internet network were launched into space on Friday from Florida, the company's first step before it deploys thousands more in orbit to beam the internet globally and compete with SpaceX's Starlink.

An Atlas 5 rocket from the Boeing-Lockheed joint venture United Launch Alliance lifted off from Florida shortly after 2 p.m. Eastern time (1800 GMT), carrying the two Kuiper test satellites, a long-awaited mission Amazon initially had intended to launch using different rockets.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Chris Reese and Will Dunham)